46 PIPERACEZ. [| HouTTuynia. 
ous.—Species 2, one in N. W. America and the other Indian, extend- 
ing to Siam, China and Japan. 
H.cordata, Thunb. Fl. Jap. 214, t. 26; Royle Ill. 331; FP. B. 
I. v, 78 ; Kanjilal For. Fl. ed. 2, 524 ; Collett Fl. Siml. 429. 
A perennial herb with a creeping rootstock. Stem erect, 1-3 ft. high, 
leafy, angular, herbaceous, pubescent at the nodes. Leaves cauline, 
13-24 in. long and broad, broadly ovate-cordate, acuminate, 5-nerved, 
abruptly narrowed into the petiole, glabrous or with the nerves pub- 
escent beneath, gland-dotted ; petiole 1-2 in.; stipules membranous, 
linear-oblong, obtuse, emarginate or bifid, adnate to the channelled 
petiole, cliate on the margins. Spikes 4 in. long, dense-flowered, 
elongating in fruit ; bracts 3-3 in. long, rounded or oblong. Stamens 
Sub-Himalayan tracts in N. Oudh (Duthie). DistRiB.: ‘Trop. Hima- 
Jaya from the Punjab to Sikkim, up to 5,000 ft.; also Assam, the 
Khasia Mts. and Ceylon, extending to China and Japan. 
2. PIPER, Linn.; FI. Brit. Ind. v, 78. 
Shrubs, rarely herbs, erect or scandent, often glandular and aro- 
«matic, branches with swollen nodes. Leaves usually entire and 
often oblique, stipules various. Flowers very minute, diccious, 
rarely 2-sexual, spicate, each in the axil of a bract, with or without 
2 lateral bracteoles; bracts peltate or cupular, adnate to the 
rhachis, sometimes decurrent, with or without raised margins ; 
bracteoles (when present) forming low ridges on each side of the 
flower or connate in a semilunar form. Stamens 2-4, rarely more; 
filaments short, anthers 2-celled, the cells distinct. Ovary 1-celled, 
style short, conic, beaked, or none, stigmas 2-5; ovule solitary, 
erect. Fruit a small ovoid or globose 1-seeded berry. Seeds 
usually globose, albumen floury within. Species about 600, in 
‘tropical and sub-tropical regions. 
P. brachystachyum, Wall. Cat. 6656 in part; Royle Ill. 332 ; 
F. B. I. v, 87; Kanjilal For. Fl. ed. 2, 325; Gamble Man. 554; 
Collett Fl. Siml. 430 ; Brandis Ind. Trees 523.—Vern. Pahari pan, 
A glabrous much-branched rambling shrub. Stems often very iong 
climbing on trees and rocks and rooting at the nodes; branches 
slender, rigid, terete, the lower often warted. Leaves petioled, 
